Hand-holding needed: Pro/Wireless and /root, etc.

[Foucault]

Hi all,

I'm brand new to Puppy, brand new to Linux/Unix. I've been using Windows for many years, but am far from being a techie.

I've come to the point where I want to experiment with a Linux OS, and Puppy looks like it will fit the bill perfectly, especially as I can run it off a CD, so I don't have to mess up my Windows laptop. It also appears to be pretty friendly for those used to (some would say messed up by!) Windows.

Over the last few days, I've tried a few different flavors of Linux, and all seem to have difficulty wth the Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG, which is my wireless card with which I connect, via my wireless router, to my DSL service to the Internet.

I've found the following page, which looks promising:

http://puppylinux.org/wikka/ProWireless

Step 1, the download of the driver looks pretty painless. I can connect perfectly using Windows, so I can obtain this file.

However, I'm already becoming lost by step #2:

Save it in /root directory without the '.tar.gz' extension - this will prevent it being archived next boot.

Does this mean that I can save it to C:\ in Windows? If not, how do I find the file I downloaded and save it to /root?

The next few instructions seem to imply having a command line to type commands in. How do I do that from the Puppy desktop, or should I be doing that from somewhere else?

Perhaps I'm trying to run before I can walk, wanting to configure my wireless card before I'm really familiar with Linux, but the easiest way for me to experiment is going to be to have a web-browser open within Puppy to guide me along.

Can anyone help?

Thanks!

[PaulBx1]

Sounds like a little basic familiarization with linux would be in order; you should be able to google around for it (look for phrases like "linux newbie").

Did you try getting your modem working first? That's usually pretty painless, and you will be able to pull this file over in puppy. Or go do it in Windows and put it in C:\ - then boot puppy and you can move it from /initrd/mnt/dev_save (which is where C:\ is in puppy) over to /.

The command line stuff is done in a rxvt window, which is much like a dos window. The little box, 2nd from the right of the Menu button, will get you one.

Good luck on that wireless. It is one of the tougher things to get going in linux, but most folks around here manage to muddle through with the help of old hands and with google. I did...

[Foucault]

Sounds like a little basic familiarization with linux would be in order; you should be able to google around for it (look for phrases like "linux newbie").

I'm sure that would help. However, since I'm booting from CD and have Windows XP with NTFS, things are no doubt going to be different from a standard Linux system.

Did you try getting your modem working first? That's usually pretty painless, and you will be able to pull this file over in puppy. Or go do it in Windows and put it in C:\ - then boot puppy and you can move it from /initrd/mnt/dev_save (which is where C:\ is in puppy) over to /.

Unfortunately, I don't have dial-up access, so getting my modem working won't help me much. I can use the rest of these instructions though, I assume. I can download the file using Windows, put it in C:\, then boot up Puppy, go to rxvt, and move it from /initrd/mnt/dev_save to /

Is that correct?

Thanks for the help.

[billstclair]

You didn't say which version of Puppy you're using. If it's Puppy 2.0x, the driver proper for the Intel Pro Wireless 2200BG is part of Puppy. But it's missing the firmware and the scripts to load the firmware. "ipw2200-fw-2.4.pup" in the "Dotpups" section at http://s3.amazonaws.com/puppy/index.html contains a packaging I did of the firmware, along with a "wireless" script for loading the driver, configuring it to connect to any unencrypted base station, and starting dhcpcd. You'll have to modify that script if you use encryption, and you'll probably have to change eth0 to eth1. Or you can use WAG in the Puppy network tools, after installing the dotpup.

Works for me in Puppy 2.01 on my Dell laptop.

If you're using Puppy 1.0x, there's a driver/firmware package somewhere on the forum that worked for me before I upgraded to 2.0.

[billstclair]

As for the other part of your problem, yes, you can download the package you found, or my dotpup, to your C drive in Windows. Then use MUT in Puppy (the USB key icon in the top row on the desktop) to mount your C drive in Puppy. Find the dotpup in the resulting window (or the .tar.gz file, I think, though I always use "tar -xzf" from the command line to expand those files, so I don't know about the GUI tools in that department) and click on it to install.

[Wolfen]

Foucault, if you're not familiar with the commandline, you could use Rox to move the file.
Just click on 'home' at the desktop, move to /initrd/mnt/dev_save , click on 'home' once again, and drag the file from the Rox window to the other.
Then you may delete the one in /initrd/mnt/dev_save .

[Foucault]

Thanks for all your help. I can try these suggestions out. I need some reassurance on a related matter: Since I'm using Windows XP with NTFS, and that's my only partition, am I likely to mess anything up by having Puppy access my hard-drive?

I noticed instructions about a Pup001.zip file to be downloaded to the C:\ directory, but the download is no longer available - have those requirements changed? Is Puppy OK interacting with NTFS?

By the way, I'm using Puppy 2.01 - sorry I didn't mention that before.

Thanks.

[PaulBx1]

You can read an NTFS volume with wild abandon, but you are playing craps with your file system if you write to it. So I've been told. However if you stay within the pup_save.3fs envelope that you presumably created (while under windows) when installing puppy to your system, you will be safe.

[Foucault]

However if you stay within the pup_save.3fs envelope that you presumably created (while under windows)

I didn't create such a file and I've never installed Puppy - I run from CD only.

Should I have created this file? What should be in it?

The other piece of news is that I followed the instructions given in the link in my original post and got as far as WAG, when I seem to have hit a dead end. I don't have time now, but I'll try it again, and make notes of what it says.

[billstclair]

Puppy 2.01 does not support storing the pup_save.3fs file on an NTFS file system. From Barry's recent news, it appears that 2.02 WILL support that.

Puppy 2.01 can READ from an NTFS file system, however, so you can download files there with Windows, and read them with Puppy.

With no persistent store, you'll have to go through whatever method you find to get the wireless network working every time you boot. Sort of a pain. Unless you use a multi-session CD.

[Foucault]

With no persistent store, you'll have to go through whatever method you find to get the wireless network working every time you boot. Sort of a pain. Unless you use a multi-session CD.

That means a CD-RW disk, yes? I have some of those. Perhaps this is (part of) the answer for now.

Thanks,

Graham.

[Rickrandom]

One very easy way to get internet access would be a wired connection to your router, assumng your router has such a thing. Just plug your LAN cable in, and use the network wizard. If I can do it, anyone can.

Then you would have all the info at your fingertips while you work out how to get the wireless working, which I've also done, so it can't be too difficult.

You will need some way to save your settings, and Puppy2 won't (yet) write to NTFS. You can try a USB stick, or you can use a CD-R for multi-session. It writes another track at each shut-down, so it will eventually become full, or use CD-RW. I haven't had any luck with multi-session on either of my laptops, and haven't tried it on my desktop, but some people run it no problem and don't even have a hard disk!

There is a lot of support from this forum, but the community has limited resources, so be patient if there isn't an immediate solution to your questions.

[Foucault]

One very easy way to get internet access would be a wired connection to your router, assumng your router has such a thing. Just plug your LAN cable in, and use the network wizard. If I can do it, anyone can.

You evidently haven't seen my office, where the router resides - if I could in there, I'd probably end up standing on my head in a tiny gap between some books!

Thanks for the information about MultiSession CDs. I was looking up info on this on the Wiki, and apparently there's some updated information available about creating the MS via Puppy, but the link supplied was invalid. A little frustrating!

Very busy with work right now, but I'll revisit this whole thing soon. While I'd like to get everything up and running easily, I appreciate other people have lives too!

Whereabouts in Befordshire are you from? I was born and raised in Luton, but have lived in New Jersey, USA since 1999.

[Rickrandom]

I'm near Biggleswade, almost on the Cambridgeshire border, probably about as far from Luton as you can get and still be in Bedfordshire.

I used to know Luton well, as various friends lived there, but they've moved elsewhere, like you.

[Foucault]

I do know Biggleswade quite well. I remember visiting the Shuttleworth aircraft collection as a child.

I've located some more information on MS CDs, so I'll start there I think. Thanks for your help.

[billstclair]

With no persistent store, you'll have to go through whatever method you find to get the wireless network working every time you boot. Sort of a pain. Unless you use a multi-session CD.

That means a CD-RW disk, yes? I have some of those. Perhaps this is (part of) the answer for now.

As far as I know, multi-session can be done on a regular CD-R disk. You just need a burner that can do it. I don't have any computers with such a burner (the burner I use is on my wife's Mac), so I've never done it, but I've read about it here on the forum.

[Foucault]

Well, unfortunately, it looks like I am unable to use the multisession CD technique also. I followed the instructions to create an MS disk in Windows, and it booted fine the first time, but didn't the second.

So far, my experiences with Puppy have not been terribly encouraging. I do hope it gets easier!

[Rickrandom]

There may be a few people who read this and say "So what?", but I'm quite pleased with this, in my own newbie way, so maybe it'll be useful to some other newbies.

Foucault's rather discouraging experiences have prompted me to get Puppy2 working usefully on my new laptop. If I can do it, anyone can.

I had Puppy running, including wired and wireless internet, some weeks ago, but the NTFS hard drive wouldn't let me save to it so all my work to set it up was lost at power-off (although perhaps that will be fixed with Puppy2.0.2 very soon) and I had no luck with multi-session CD-R, CD-RW or DVD-R over the last few weeks.

I had got Puppy 1.0.7 working, including wireless, on my old laptop, but my girlfriend spilt a cup of tea over it, and it's never been the same since, so I bought a new one (laptop, not girlfriend).

So....I needed a new USB memory stick anyway, as I've misplaced my old 128MB USB1 device, so I bought a 1GB USB2 stick. More by luck than judgement, I noticed when I got it home that it says on the pack that it supports Linux 2.6, so perhaps that's something to look out for when choosing one. For what it's worth, it's a "busbi" - never heard of them.

I burnt yet another CD, using CDCC in Windows, of the 2.0.1 seamonkey iso, rebooted with the CD in, it started Puppy and I selected keyboard, graphics, etc. Then I shut down, and it asked if I wanted to save, and offered me the only choice of the USB stick. It took a while, as it was creating a 512MB file on there, but it did it and then it finished shutting down. I think it will create a much smaller file if there isn't much room on the drive, so a smaller drive would be OK.

One thing, which may not be important, is that before shutting down, I mounted the USB stick using MUT. It's on the main menu, and needs just a couple of obvious clicks to do it.

I booted again, still with the CD and USB stick in place, and it remembered my settings.

I plugged a network cable in, to connect to my router, ran the network wizard, and was connected to the internet within a few seconds.

To get the wireless working, I searched the forum for "wireless driver" and found a useful thread that led me to a site with various drivers. I knew I had an Atheros wireless card, from looking in WinXP, and had a vague recollection that it required the mad-wifi dotpup. Looking at the mad-wifi readme file, this confirmed it was what I needed, but I expect a search on the forum for whatever wireless card/chipset someone else has will give a clue what driver they should look for.

I downloaded the dotpup, clicked it, and accepted what it wanted to do. I guess all it does is unzip itself and save the driver file(s) to the necessary folder, but the point is, it just does it.

From getting wireless working on my old (tea-corrupted) laptop and from the readme, I knew that you type modeprobe ath_pci (or whatever your driver name is) in an rxvt winodw, so I did that. Then I used the wireless wizard, and after a bit of hit and miss, I was connected wirelessly. It was more difficult than the wired connection, but only took a few minutes.

Rebooting, it remembers my settings, so I'm immediately connected, and don't need to use the network cable. If I want WinXP, I just eject the CD when I boot.

Of course someone who can't plug a network cable in can't get on the internet to get the wireless driver - Catch 22. I guess they could find the driver while browsing in Windows, save it to the USB stick, and then boot Puppy, then load the driver, etc.

So the lesson is, some things are easy in Puppy, and some need a little perseverence.

[Foucault]

This is really encouraging, RR! I don't have a USB stick, but I see a good deal on one on buy.com (I really don't have a budget at all, so this has got to be cheap), so I may try that. I've placed a message in the hardware forum, to see if I can find out whether the stick will work with Puppy; it's a Kingston 512MB DataTraveller.

Thanks so much for your most recent post!

[Rickrandom]

See the wiki for 128 and 256 versions:

http://puppylinux.org/wikka/USBWorking

I think USB sticks are a really handy tool, but always be aware of the risk of viruses from plugging it into someone else's computer, and make sure you scan it regularly.

With a bit of luck Puppy's NTFS read/write capability will be proven in a few days, and we can all save to an NTFS hard disk without the need for USB sticks, etc.

One of several clever things about Puppy is that it all runs from just a few files. I have Puppy 1.0.7 on my girlfriend's tea-corrupted laptop, and it's just 5 or so files, which Windows doesn't care about. There's no messing about with the registry or such. Windows is untouched by Puppy. Hopefully the same will be true with Puppy 2.